We are STILL REALING from Culture’s BIGGEST night, the 2025 BET Awards went down this past Monday NIGHT…. yes a MONDAY. Different from in the past from a Sunday night live broadcast, but the TONY AWARDS aired that Sunday, so, to avoid CONFLICT the grand FETE was moved back a DAY.
Nonetheless, Kevin Hart RETURNED as HOST and did not DISAPPOINT… too much. LOL. We CELEBRATED 25 years of the BET Awards and 45 years of BET! We had ALOT to celebrate, and not to mention not one, not 2, not 3, but FOUR ICON AWARD recipients in ONE NIGHT– Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Franklin and Mariah Carey!
For these AWARD shows, I USUALLY give my ‘GOOD,BAD and UGLY’ review, but for this show…. It was hard to find any BAD or UGLY infarctions this year! This was one of the best-produced shows BET has put on in years! I am not sure what the RATINGS were, but I AM SURE the RATINGS were through the ROOF! Let’s DIVE right in!
Now I am going to have a WHOLE list of ‘GOODS’! Let’s start off by saying the FORMAT of the show was a PLEASANT change of pace. Usually we get the FLAVOR of the MONTH act to open the show then the rest follows as it always does leading to a GOSPEL number and some SKITS from the HOST thrown in between! This year, they SWITCHED it UP which was GOOD.
They KICKED off the show with a TRIBUTE to fan favorite show, ‘106 & Park’, reuniting MOST of the ‘106’ hosts for a countdown show of some of the BIGGEST acts of the time!
It was AMAZING to see B2k Back together and VIBING like they never left. The group has had its fair share of inside ‘fighting’, but it was WHOLESOME to see them back together for the FANS! Ashanti, Mya & Amerie were MAINSTAYS on the countdown back in the day so it was a breath of fresh air to see these ladies still looking AMAZING and sound great! And we can’t forget Jim Jones and ‘The KANG’, TI, reminding us just how good music was in the 2000’s.
And of COURSE no ‘106’ reunion would be COMPLETE without ‘Mr. 106’ himself, Bow Wow HARLEM SHAKING his tail all over the place. The ENERGY was ELECTRIC!
The ONLY ‘BAD’ I can say about this REUNION is that we didn’t get to see AJ and Rocsi! That would have made it COMPLETE!
Another ‘GOOD’ was Kevin Hart! I do believe he has hosted the show twice, right? Back in 2011 and now. Hart’s signature comedey stylings was JUST what the 25th anniversary needed and he did not DISAPPOINT. He came out the GATE with shots at Diddy and Kanye as well as ICON recipients, Kirk Franklin and Snoop!
One of the FUNNIEST things I took from his MONOLOGUE was his ADMONISHMENT for the ‘AFTERPARTY’! He advised the crowd to GO HOME after the show because things get ‘SLIPPERY’ after dark–a DIRECT shot at Diddy and his BABY OIL tales!
My ‘Bad’ and it its not even that ‘BAD’ is that as the SHOW went on… we kinda LOST Kevin. He wasn’t as visible as in past shows… but it was SO MUCH territory to cover and so many moving parts that a GUY that ize could EASILY get lost in the shuffle. — I KID! But they could have used him a BIT more to guide the show along— but the show didn’t need that MUCH guidance anyways. Something really FUNNY they could’ve added was a SURPRISE appearance from another ICONIC host, Mo’Nique! The TWO of them PLAYING off of each other woud’ve been COMEDY GOLD, but I don’t think they are on GOOD TERMS right now.. so…. And another thing. HOW IN THE WORLD did Kevin get ahold of USHER’s infamous FUR COAT!? LOL.
Usher, we were wondering the SAME THING….. 🤔🤔🤔🤔
ANOTHER GOOD was the ICON AWARDS! Some may think—well I THOUGHT it was QUITE ambitious to honor 4 PHENOMENAL talents all in the same show— but they did it and knocked it out the PARK! The MUTUAL ADMIRATION these STARS have for one another is UNMATCHED! Mariah, Snoop, Jamie and Kirk all had MOVING WORDS to add and you could REALLY tell they were in AWE of the LOVE they were receiving for all their years of HARD WORK!
Stevie Wonder, Tank, Jennifer Hudson, Salt,T-Pain, Teddy Riley , T.I., Busta Rhymes just to name a FEW all showing LOVE! It was a LOVE FEST all over the BUILDING and we are SO GLAD these artists chose to share their gifts with us!
WORDS are POWERFUL!!!!
The RECURRING theme of the NIGHT was NOSTALGIA! Doechii took her Best Female Rap award speech to remind us of the TURMOIL and DISTRESS that was going on right outside the doors of the building they were in.
As Doechii accepted her BET award, she called out the protests being silenced by military force against ICE deportations Over 10 Haitian immigrants have been kidnapped by ICE after court hearings — this isn’t law and order, this is racialized terror masquerading as policy.
Doechii called out the Trump administration and ICE for the LA protests and addressed Gaza and trans rights i all inn her Best Female Hip Hop Artist acceptance speech at the 2025 BET Awards! Definitely a ‘GOOD’ in my book….
This stance harkened back to a time when artists actually gave a damn about the world around them and championed that in their art!
Let’s move on… NOSTALGIA was the theme of the night for sure. The BET Awards wanted us to be all in our FEELINGS for sure. ANd that’s what music is supposed to do–take us back to a time or place where we felt GOOD, and Glorilla didn’t let us down. She is a fairly NEW act, but Glo’s trajectory in this game reminds us of some of the great female rappers that came before her. She had a BREAK OUT hit, right out the gate, but didn’t rest on her laurels or tried to RIDE that wave, she kept dropping hit after hit and actually put in WORK! She ahd a few hiccups with a STINKER with that TIC-TOCK single she tried to pass off as a hit, but that came and went and she dusted herself off and made us LOVE her with a few well-placed features and of course ‘TGIF’, that even had the WYPIPPO reciting her lyrics.
Her BET set was NOSTALGIA in motion. The attention to detail and big PRODUCTION number with DANCERS and the like! This is HOW artists USED to lay out their stage shows–artisty– and she has it ALREADY in her young career! Glo actually TAP-DANCED on the haters and let her LATEST single SIMMER on our minds until she REALLY put us in BACK in her fields with her latest single, ‘Typa’ that interpolates a MONSTER single in the form of Keyshia Cole’s ‘LOVE’–then she paid HOMAGE to this iconic artist by featuring her in the NUMBER!? And might we ADD that Glorilla‘s first BET Award WIN being a gospel award and her government name being Gloria Hallelujah Woods was simply her mother’s manifestation coming to fruition. Who saw THAT ONE coming? NOT ME! She had just performed in assless chaps not even an hour before. God’s plan? Call it BET magic and destiny! And her NUMBER was FLAWLESS!
This was on some Teyana Taylor and The Aunties type of production!
And SPEAKING of Teyana—She took us to 2045 with her OUT OF THIS WORLD thinking in her NUMBER—another ‘GOOD’ for me.
Taylor is always NEXT LEVEL with her sets and she never falls short of pushing the envelope!
AND she had Taraji P. Henson in her NUMBER!? Taraji has been PUTTING IN WORK for years and it’s ABOUT TIME her PRESENCE in this game is CELEBRATED!
I have nothing ‘BAD’ to say about any of that.
NOSTALGIA is the word of the HOUR and our ‘NEW ARTIST’ winner Leon Thomas REMINDS us that R&B is NOT dead. His SMOOTH VOCALS is like a THROWBACK to the NE-YO’s and the MARIOs from the 2000’s! We can definitely see a BRIGHT FUTURE with this guy! He has a OLD-SKOOL vibe with NEW GEN sensibilities! We LOVE IT!
‘Mutts’ need a home too AN not at the POUND! I am ALL ON BOARD for Leon’s RISE!
My ‘BAD’ of the night isn’t even that BAD– The BAD is that the CROWD seemed not to be ALL IN! This was CULTURE’S BIGGEST NIGHT, and it seemed like the AUDIENCE was on chill. BUT I GET IT! I have covered NUMEROUS BET Awards to know that its a LONG DAY! Shooting LIVE– there are so many moving parts that ALL have to be in accord– it is ALOT to take in— so if you have not PREPARED for the DAY— your ENERGY level can WAX and WANE….
Now my ‘UGLY’ if there is such a thing was when the LEGENDARY Rakim came out with Mariah the CROWD REACTION wasn’t on a level I thought it should have been! This is MARIAH and Rakim rocking over a LEGENDARY BEAT!! I wanted MORE RUCKUS!!!!
Mariah could’ve gave a little 2-step to the BEAT– but she’s MARIAH–so I’ll let her live…..
The FINALE with Kirk Franklin was another ‘GOOD’ highlight! Franklin and COMPANY PROVED why he is an ICON winner! He continues to MOVE the NEEDLE and has always TAKEN GOSPEL music to levels that it had not been taken before! NEVER shying away from CRITICISM- KIRK continues to PUSH THE ENVELOPE of the genre and has DELIVERED time and time again!
Muni Long, Tamar Braxton, DC Young Fly, Salt, T.I. and OUR NEWEST American Idol, Jamal Roberts! WHEW– Kirk BROUGHT the house down in GRAND FASHION and we wouldn’t have expected anything less!
The WHOLE show was a VIBE and it’s not a FLUKE! Jessie Collins Entertainment was behind this phenomenal. EMMY-AWARD WINNING producer Jessie Collins is a PRO when it comes to curating these types of shows so we must give him and his TEAM a ‘BRAVO’ for an OVER-THE-TOP experience that DEFINITELY encapsulated the FEELS of a 25th anniversary PARTY! Thank you again!
And for those that MISSED the PARTY, the ENCORE presentation is TONIGHT June 12, 2025 at 8pm on BET!
DON’T MISS OUT!
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